Charles H. Sandford

Charles H. Sandford was born in 1839 in New York, the son of Margaret.

Charles left New York and came to western Michigan. By 1860 he was probably working as a farm laborer and living with the Chester Dow family in Thornapple, Barry County.

He was a 22-year-old farm laborer probably living in Thornapple, Barry County when he enlisted in Company K on December 17, 1861, at Grand Rapids, and was mustered the same day.

He was killed in action on May 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and presumably buried among the unknown soldiers near Chancellorsville.

In 1867 (?) his mother applied for a pension (no. 172406), but the certificate was never granted.

Jeremiah Sanders

Jeremiah Sanders was born on May 10, 1814 in Little York (?), Pennsylvania.

Jeremiah married Fast (b. 1820), possibly in Ohio, and they had at least six children: Ann Elizabeth (b. 1840), Emily (b. 1841), Ellen (b. 1843), Antinette (b. 1846), George A. (b. 1853) and William Allen (b. 1859).

They were residing in Ohio in 1840 and by 1850 were living in Sullivan, Ashland County, Ohio. Between 1850 and 1853 they moved to western Michigan, eventually settled in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County by the spring of 1853. By 1860 Jeremiah was living in Orangeville, Barry County.

He was a 48-year-old laborer possibly living in Orangeville or in Rutland, Barry County or in Kalamazoo, when he became a substitute for George Preston who had been drafted on February 10, 1863, for 9 months from Rutland. Jeremiah joined Company H on March 10 at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, and was mustered out on November 10, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia.

Jeremiah returned to his home in Michigan, probably to Kalamazoo where he lived until 1866 when he moved his family to the Millersburg store, just northwest of present Columbus, Kansas. He was working as a farmer and living with his wife and two sons in Lola, Cherokee County, Kansas in 1870. Indeed, Jeremiah lived the rest of his life in Kansas.

He was probably still living in Lola when he died in 1876 and was buried in Cherokee cemetery in Lola.

No pension seems to be available.

James W. Salter

James W. Salter was born in 1839 in Orleans County New York, the son of Susan (b. 1796).

In 1840 there was one Israel Salter living in Knowlesville, Orleans County, New York. By 1850 James and his mother were living with the Charles Mix (?) family on a farm in Barre, Orleans County, New York. James left New York and headed west, eventually settling in Detroit, Michigan by around 1860.

He soon moved on to Lyons, Ionia County where he married Canadian-born Mary Ann Taft (1838-1888) on May 10, 1860; they had one child, a daughter, Ida Eliza (b. 1861).

Interestingly, it appears that in late June of 1860 James was working as a farm laborer and living with the John and Eliza Taft (Mary’s parents) in Ionia, Ionia County; Mary was also living with her family as well but not listed as James’ wife though or even recently married. (She may be the same Mary A. Tifft, age 17 in 1860, who was working as a domestic for Joseph Rounds in Lyons, Ionia County; if so, she had a child William, age 1.)

James stood 5’8” with dark eyes, hair and complexion and was 22 years old and still living in Lyons when he enlisted in Company E on May 13, 1861. (Company E was composed in large part by men from Clinton and Ingham counties, as well as parts of Ionia County.) He allegedly deserted either January 17 or February 21, 1862, and returned to the Regiment on March 9. He was absent sick with dysentery on April 20, 1862, eventually returned to duty and was shot in the right hand and arm on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, after which he was hospitalized for “vulvus sclopeticum” (wounds) in Washington Street hospital in Alexandria and reportedly “doing well” by the second week of September. He was discharged on November 15, 1862. at Third Division hospital, Alexandria, Virginia, for “contractions of extensors of right hand” resulting from being shot, and it is quite likely that he died soon afterwards, possibly in Alexandria. (There is no record of burial in Alexandria National Cemetery.)

James’ wife, who was living in Ionia, Ionia County, in the fall of 1862, presumed that James in fact died sometime in late 1862 in the hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, and by February of 1863 she was seeking a widow’s pension.

According to one report, Mary was having difficulty acquiring a widow’s pension form the government. “In the claim of Mary A. Salter,” wrote one A. H. heath to the Commissioner of Pensions, “(claim no. 13028) I can learn nothing definite. The impression of the party who made application for her is that she was married soon after making application in 1863.”

In fact, she remained James’ widow until March 21, 1871, when she married one Hiram Bishop, whom she left in 1875 and later divorced in Ionia. In January of 1880, Mary, who was living in Big Rapids, Mecosta County, testified that during the battle of Second Bull Run, Salter “received a wound in one of his arms, and also a wound in the side, at the hands of the enemy” and “from the effects of which said wounds, the said James W. Salter after being conveyed to Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, departed this life, some two or three months after the date of said battle.”

In September of 1881 his widow swore that James had been hospitalized in Alexandria “until about the 15th day of November 1862 and was discharged therefrom by reason of his disability since which time [she] has never heard from him either directly or indirectly excepting having heard it stated by his comrades in his company that he died from his wounds within a few days from his discharge from hospital aforementioned.”

By 1890 she was living at 51 Ottawa street in Muskegon, Muskegon County.

In October of 1897 one Ida E. Badgeley was living in Michigan when she filed a pension application (no. 664454) as a minor child but the certificate was never granted. Unusually, this claim was filed by the applicant and not the guardian – since by this time the “minor child” was 36 years old.

John R. Salisbury

John R. Salisbury was born in 1809 in Chenango County, New York.

John left New York and moved west, eventually settling in western Michigan by 1860 when he was working as a farmer (he owned some $200 worth of real estate) and living alone in Moorland, Muskegon County.

John stood 5’10” with black eyes and hair and a dark complexion, and was 52 years old and probably still living in Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861. He was discharged for consumption on December 23, 1861, at Camp Michigan, Virginia.

John eventually returned to Michigan after he left the army. By 1870 he was working as a laborer and living alone in Hart, Oceana County.

No pension seems to be available.

William L. Ryan updated 25 November 2020

William L. Ryan was born on April 15, 1832, in Leinster, Ireland, probably the son of Irish natives William and Ann.

Although William was reported to have fought in the Mexican War, in fact he did not immigrate to North America until the spring of 1854. (Curiously, one source reported years later “he had been a soldier in Ireland for a time. . . “) Soon after arriving in North America he settled in Huron, Canada, staying there but a few months before moving to Grand Rapids and then to Spring Lake, Ottawa County, and in 1857 to Muskegon, Muskegon County.

William was married and she reportedly died in 1857.

By 1860 William was a sawyer working in Muskegon and living at the Averill boarding house along with Thomas Waters and George Root (both of whom would also join Company H). His two children were reportedly living with their paternal grandmother Ann and uncles Joseph and Patrick (William L.’s younger brothers) in Walker, Kent County.

According to William as soon as he and Waters heard about the fall of Fort Sumter they decided to enlist together, joining the company then forming in Muskegon. Originally called the “Muskegon Rangers,” this company would be organized under the command of Captain Emery Bryant and become Company H in the 3rd Michigan Infantry.

William was 29 years old when he was elected Second Lieutenant of the “Muskegon Rangers,” the militia company that was organized in Muskegon in late April of 1861 and whose members would form the nucleus of Company H; he enlisted as Second Lieutenant in Company H, probably in late April of 1861.

On June 13, 1861, the 3rd Michigan left Grand Rapids for Washington, D.C., where it arrived on June 16 and went into camp near the Chain Bridge along the Potomac River just above Georgetown. According to Dan Crotty of Company F, soon after the Regiment reached its camp at Chain Bridge, “We throw ourselves down on mother earth, on the banks of the beautiful and historic Potomac, to rest our weary limbs. Here Lieutenant Ryan, an old soldier, is ordered to lay out a camp, which he does, and we call it, after our Michigan War Governor, Camp [Austin] Blair.” Charles Brittain also of Company H, thought “Bill Ryan” a first-rate fellow.

William was commissioned First Lieutenant on October 28, 1861.

He was shot in the hip on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run. He was “badly wounded in the hip,” wrote Crotty some years after the war, “but by good nursing and a strong constitution he may get over it.” William was commissioned Captain of Company H on October 20, replacing Captain Emery D. Bryant.

He returned to Grand Rapids in the fall of 1862, quite probably on recruiting duty.

While back in Michigan he married Maria “Mary” Cloonen (1842-1899) on November 11, 1862, at Grand Rapids.

William resigned on account of disability on March 24, 1863, at Camp Pitcher, Virginia.

In the fall of 1864 he entered the Veterans Reserve Corps in New Jersey and was commissioned a First Lieutenant in Company C, then in Company E, and transferred to the 13th VRC as Assistant Mustering Officer and Inspector of Passports at Boston harbor.

In October of 1864 he returned to western Michigan on a short furlough. Captain “Ryan, late of the old Third,” wrote the Grand Rapids Eagle on October 17, “who is now of the Thirteenth Veteran Reserve Corps in command of ‘B’ Street Barracks, Boston, Mass., has just returned on a short furlough. His numerous friends in this city and vicinity will greet him with open arms and warm hearts.” By the end of the month Ryan had left to rejoin his command in Boston.

William was subsequently appointed Assistant commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau in Mississippi, and finally discharged from the Bureau in 1867. (Curiously, his daughter Mary Ann was still living with her grandmother and Uncle Joseph in Walker in 1870.)

After he left the Freedman’s Bureau William returned to Muskegon where he served as City Marshal from 1867-70. While city marshal.

An incident which took place while he was city marshal illustrates his readiness in emergencies and courage. A man had been arrested for a dastardly crime and public sentiment was excited. The city was rougher then and a turbulent element was stronger than now. A large crowd went to the court house to lynch the prisoner, led by resolute men and determined to do its ugly work. H. H. Getty was then mayor, Giddings circuit judge and A. B. Miner sheriff. Refused the keys of the jail the mob procured a huge timber for a battering ram and broke down the outer door of the jail. Major Ryan appeared at the door with revolver and club, and announced that he would kill those who persisted in their approach. One man stepped forward and was promptly knocked senseless by the major's club. For awhile things looked rocky, but the firmness of the officer and his pledge that the prisoner should be tried without needless delay finally quelled the storm and the crowd later dispersed. The prisoner was soon after sentenced to Jackson for life, and at last accounts was still there.

William was the first Democratic sheriff in Muskegon County, serving from 1874-78. He had also been a deputy sheriff and constable. On September 4, 1877, the Democrat reported the following story.

Major W. L. Ryan, Sheriff of Muskegon County, was somewhat injured yesterday while conveying a prisoner sentenced for 3 months to the House of Corrections at Ionia. The prisoner, while traveling in custody over the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad about four miles west of Coopersville, suddenly sprang from the sheriff and started for the door, and immediately jumped from the platform while the train was going at a rapid rate, closely followed by the plucky sheriff. This caused considerable excitement on the train, and Conductor Anderson immediately signaled the engineer, and the train backed up to where the prisoner and sheriff alighted. The sheriff was found to be somewhat bruised, and in no very favorable condition to give chase to the scoundrel, who had taken to the brush and was out of sight. Several trackmen who were at work on the road near by started to capture the prisoner, while Sheriff Ryan got on board the train again and went to Coopersville for an officer to assist him in further search for the fugitive. As this is the first case Sheriff Ryan has ever had of an escape of a prisoner, it is to be hoped he may be successful in the capture of the rogue.

William served as a Justice of the Peace in Muskegon from 1879-83, and in 1880 was living on Houston Avenue in Muskegon’s 3rd Ward with his wife Maria. In 1881 he was a Police Justice. He was still living in Muskegon in 1882, 1886, 1888, 1890-91 and in fact he probably remained in Muskegon until 1894 when he was admitted briefly to the Michigan Soldiers’ Home in Grand Rapids; by 1895 he was reportedly living in Muskegon. He was a member of the Old 3rd Michigan Infantry Association, and at the annual reunions he was known for speaking his mind about the war. 

For example, at the 1882 reunion of the Association, “W. L. Ryan of Muskegon threw a small bomb into the rather harmonious gathering by jumping up and making three cheers for the expected restoration of Fitz John Porter and said no soldier of the ‘Old Third’ ought to fail to respond.” The Democrat added that General A. T. McReynolds “endorsed the request, several were preparing to object, and a stormy time was imminent when the meeting was suddenly adjourned.”

William was the charter commander of Grand Army of the Republic Kearny Post No. 7 in 1879 in Muskegon, In fact, “Major Ryan, as might naturally be supposed, took an active interest in G.A. R. matters, and was not only a charter member of Phil Kearny Poet but its first commander. On public occasions such as Fourth of July celebrations and the like he was generally made marshal, and those who noted his tall military figure sitting erect on horseback could not but pronounce him a handsome figure and a typical volunteer soldier in appearance and demeanor.” He was justice of the peace for ten years and police justice for four years; a staunch Democrat, and (probably) a Roman Catholic.

In 1870 he testified for the prosecution in the second trial of George Vanderpool, formerly of Company H, who had been charged with murdering his business partner in Manistee.

Ryan suffered for many years from “rheumatism,” and he sought a variety of cures for the chronic illness. On April 26, 1892, Ryan told a reporter for the Democrat

that for more than 20 years he had been fighting the dreaded disease, but its grip grew stronger each succeeding year. For 12 months past he has been confined to his room, and it is two years since the Major could walk without assistance. Four weeks ago he began a course of treatment with Madame Debanshaw. At that time he had to be fed like a child, and was so completely helpless that he could not move in his chair without aid. But since the beginning of these treatments his general health has improved rapidly, his rheumatism with every pain is gone and today he is around again among his friends. He recommends Madam Debanshaw's magnetic remedy very strongly to those suffering from the same disease. Madam's office is located at 87 Western Avenue, Muskegon.

William reportedly entered the Michigan Soldiers’ Home in Grand Rapids in February of 1894, and for a time his wife and daughter lived in rooms on Fountain Street in Grand Rapids while he was treated for sever “rheumatism” in the Home. In fact, however, his wife was admitted to the Women’s Building of the Michigan Soldier’s Home in Grand Rapids (cert. no. 41) in January of 1894. According to his death certificate, William entered the Home January 17, 1895.

In 1863 William applied for and received a veteran’s pension (cert. no. 88354).

William died of heart failure and epilepsy at the Home hospital on Friday morning, January 31, 1896, and the funeral service was held at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, February 3, at the Home hospital; his wife was living at 17 North Lane Avenue in Grand Rapids. There was a funeral mass at St. Andrews Church, and William was buried in St. Andrews Cemetery: New section 2 lot 35 grave 2. He was, noted one observer, an “upright, honest, careful man and official, brave in the discharge of duty, his natural kindliness always leaning to the side of mercy even in the presence of justice.”

In February of 1896 Maria applied for and received a dependent widow’s pension (cert. no. 437458).

John H. Ryan Jr. - updated 1/20/2016

John H. Ryan Jr. was born around 1824 in Virginia, the son of John H. Sr.

In 1850 John was probably living with Rev. James (born 1791 in Maryland) and Elizabeth (born 1793 in Virginia), in Dover, Union County, Ohio. John H. Jr. was probably still living in Ohio when he married Christina Spitler (1830-1857) and they probably had at least three children: Welden Hugh (1852-1939), Homer (b. 1854) and Austen (b. 1856), all born in Ohio.

John left Ohio and was probably a widower when he moved to Michigan. By 1860 he was living in Sidney, Montcalm County along with his three children: Welden, Homer, and Austen.

John was a 37-year-old farmer possibly living in Sidney when he enlisted in Company E on October 21, 1861, crediting Montcalm County, and joined the Regiment at Arlington, Virginia. He was absent sick in the hospital from August of 1862 through September, on detached service from November through December, in January of 1863 he was serving with the Brigade wagon train, probably as a teamster, and in February was with the ambulance train. He remained detached with the Brigade trains from March of 1863 through July, and allegedly deserted “while on the march” on July 17, 1863.

There is no further record. No pension seems to be available.

It is possible that John returned to Ohio after he left the army. In June of 1863 there was a 36-year-old merchant named John H. Ryan, born in Virginia, living in Union County, Ohio; also in Union County was 40-year-old Elton Ryan, also born in Virginia.

Louis Ruthardt

Louis Ruthardt was born June 30, 1842, in Holchinger, Baden, Germany, the son of George Michael (b. 1808) and Christine (b. 1818).

Louis’ parents were married in Germany and the family immigrated to America, probably around 1848 (?), and eventually settled in Michigan sometime before 1850. By 1860 Louis (or “Lewis”) was attending school with four younger siblings and living with his family on a farm in Alpine, Kent County.

He stood 5’8” with hazel eyes, brown hair and a florid complexion and was a 19-year-old farmer possibly living in Alpine, Kent County when he enlisted in Company C on March 1, 1862, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, and was mustered the same day. He was sick in the hospital from July of 1862 through August, and allegedly deserted on September 21 at Upton’s Hill, Virginia, but was in fact probably still hospitalized and was discharged for general debility on September 2 at Detroit (possibly from Harper hospital or Detroit Barracks).

On November 5, 1862, Ruthardt wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Smith, military commander in Detroit, that “In the first week of Sept. I received your discharge furlough. When made out, you will please send my discharge and pay certificates [to] Mr. P. R. L. Peirce of Grand Rapids” (Peirce was an attorney and one of the city’s leading citizens.) However, because Ruthardt had lacked certain necessary forms, particularly his descriptive list or roll, Smith’s office sent out an inquiry to Captain Israel Geer, then commanding Company C. Geer, replied that Ruthardt was taken sick in the spring of 1862, somewhere between Fortress Monroe and Yorktown and his descriptive list was in his possession when he was sent to the hospital. Geer added, however, that “This is the first that he has been reported to the Regt. since” last April. “In compliance with general order he has been dropped from the rolls in Sept. last. There is a Gen. order forbidding me to give a second descriptive list until certain forms are complied with on his part. I have stated his case to the Col. of our Regt. He directed me [to] write & send the particulars as above to you saying Ruthardt had never done day’s duty in [the] Regt. and had been dropped as deserter. Said Ruthardt had never drawn any pay or clothing from [the] government while with [the] Regt.”

On July 3, 1863, P.R.L. Peirce of Grand Rapids wrote to Smith that Ruthardt “has been long sick, and is one of the most honest and true-hearted Germans I ever knew, and if well enough he would jump at the chance to once more ‘fight mit Sigel’. In answer to yours of the 8th May, concerning him, I have to say that at the battle of Siege of Yorktown and on the 4th of May/62 he was by illness sent to a farmhouse used as a temporary hospital, where he remained until May 30 when he was sent to Newport News hospital [Virginia] and remained there until June 12 and was sent to New York. Ruthardt says he was ‘very sick’ indeed at that farmhouse, and that he thinks a doctor with the 2nd Mich. Regt. attended him, and to that doctor, or to whoever did attend him, he gave his descriptive list, at that house. He thinks when he left or was sent to Newport News there were a hundred other sick ones sent. He is a strictly honest fellow, . . . very ill of rheumatism, diarrhea and typhoid. If an affidavit of his that he left or has lost said roll will be of any use I will be get it and send it to you. I suppose there is some way to meet and overcome exigencies. He has never been paid either.”

In a sworn statement he gave on August 5, 1863, Ruthardt testified that he

continued in service until the 3rd day of September, 1862, when Lt. Col. Smith . . . gave him -- after a due medical examination -- a furlough to go home and await his discharge, which furlough he now has. Deponent further says that he was first taken sick near Yorktown Va, and on the 4th day of May/62 was sent to a farm house hospital, about five miles from Yorktown, where he remained until the 28th of May, when he was sent to Yorktown where he remained two days, and was then sent to Newport News; where he remained quite sick twelve days and was then sent to New York where I remained one day and was then sent home, and getting better reported to Detroit to Col. Smith who kept me three weeks, and then sent him home on discharge furlough. Deponent further says that while at said hospital farm house the doctor who attended him in uniform took his descriptive roll, and never returned it to deponent. Deponent not understanding its nature or value and supposing that said doctor was entitled to it made no objections to his taking it, and thought nothing more about it. And this is positively a true account of its loss; and that it is lost deponent has not doubt, as he never saw it after giving it to the doctor aforesaid whose name deponent does not know, as he deponent was very sick with the fever and supposed his superiors would do right with him. Deponent in his oath positively and solemnly aver that he has never received any discharge or pay certificates, nor any pay from the United States, since he entered the service.

Louis gave Grand Rapids as his mailing address on his discharge paper, but he soon moved to northern Michigan.

He married Amelia and/or Emeline (b. 1849), and they had at least three and possibly ten children: Amelia (b. 1868), Louis (b. 1872) and Edward (b. 1878), possibly also Edward C. (1874-75), William, Anna, Irene, Alice and Clare and possibly an infant not named (d. 1876).

In July of 1870 he purchased 160 acres of land through the Traverse City land office; in November his father or brother (?) George also purchased 160 acres nearby.

By 1870 Louis was working as a farmer (he owned $2500 worth of real estate) and living with his wife Amelia and his younger brother George in Elmwood Township, Leelanau County. By the mid-1870s Louis had settled in Solon, Leelanau County. By 1880 Louis was working as a farmer and living with his wife and children in Solon.

Louis was living in Cedar Run, Benzie County in 1888, and back in Solon, Leelanau County by 1890. In 1920 Louis was living in Solon, Leelanau County with five of his children.

In 1889 he applied for and received a pension (no. 765179).

Louis died at his home in Solon on September 9, 1926, and was buried in Solon Township cemetery.

Solomon Rust

Solomon Rust was born in 1835 in Crawford, Pennsylvania, probably the son of John B. (1810-1864) and Barbara (Camp, 1809-1882).

Pennsylvania natives John and Barbara were married probably in Pennsylvania sometime before 1825. (It is possible that Barbara was related to the Camp family of Allendale, Ottawa County – both Samuel and his brother Aaron Camp Jr. would serve in the Third Michigan during the war.) They settled in Crawford County, Pennsylvania around 1830 and lived there for many years; they were living in Woodcock, Crawford County in 1850. Solomon’s family probably moved from Pennsylvania to Michigan sometime after 1850, and by 1860 Solomon, who could not read or write, was a farm laborer living with his mother and younger brother David in Jamestown, Ottawa County.

(It is possible that his mother was the same Barbara Rust living in Pittsburgh’s Seventh Ward, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania by 1870. Barbara is reportedly buried in Hanley cemetery, Ottawa County, however, along with one “John Rust,” who was most likely Solomon’s younger brother “John C.,” and who served in Company C, Second Michigan Cavalry.)

Solomon stood 5’8” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was 26 years old and residing in Kent County or Jamestown when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. He was absent sick in the hospital from August of 1862 through November, and discharged on January 13, 1863, at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, for “excessive irritability of the spine or spinal meningitis, occasioning pain in back and limbs, bloody urine.”

It is not known if Solomon returned to Michigan after his discharge.

(There was one Solomon Rust who enlisted for one year as a private in Company K, One hundred-ninety-ninth Pennsylvania infantry on September 17, 1864, probably in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where the regiment was organized in September and October of 1864, and was mustered the same day. The regiment joined the Army of the James in October at Deep Bottom Landing, Virginia, and was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division, Twenty-fourth Corps. It participated in the final assault on the works at Petersburg, Virginia and also joined in the pursuit of retreating confederate forces to Burkesville and then on to Appomattox where it arrived on April 9. After Lee surrendered the regiment moved into Richmond, Virginia where it was mustered out on June 28. Solomon was mustered out of service with the regiment on June 28, 1865 in Richmond, Virginia.)

He married Pennsylvania native Sarah E. Green (b. 1847-1899), and they had at least ten children: Matilda (1869-1881), William H. (1871), John E. (1872-1881), Charles E. (b. 1876-1881), Barbara E., Daisy (1880-1881), Benjamin T., Ray (1884-1884), Harrison M. (1889-1951), and Sarah E.

In 1863 he applied for and received a pension (no. 344997).

By 1870 Solomon was probably working as a farmer and living with his wife in Cambridge, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. (His mother Barbara was living in Jamestown, Ottawa County; also living with her was her son John who was working as a farm hand.) By 1880 he was working as a night watchman and living with his wife and children in Cambridge, Pennsylvania. His mother was living with her daughter Mary Clark in Jamestown, Ottawa County in 1880. That same year his younger brother David was living in Wyoming, Kent County. In 1890 Solomon was living in Richmond, Cambridge County, Pennsylvania.

Solomon died on September 15, 1902, presumably at his home in Crawford County and was reportedly buried in Cambridge Springs Cemetery (along with his father and wife).

After Solomon died a pension was filed on behalf of at least one child and granted (no. 581253).

Peter Russell

Peter Russell was born in 1845, probably the son of Peter and stepson of Susan Jane.

Peter (younger) stood 5’5” with blue eyes, brown hair and a florid complexion and was a 19-year-old lumberman living in Manistee, Manistee County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company I on February 6, 1864, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, and was mustered the same day. He joined the Regiment on February 17 at Camp Bullock, Virginia, and was probably wounded on May 6, 1864, at the Wilderness, Virginia.

He died in the Corps hospital on May 12, 1864, from wounds received at the Wilderness, and was presumably buried among the unknown soldiers at the Wilderness.

No pension seems to be available.

In 1870 his father was living in Croton, Newaygo County; his youngest son by his second wife, was named Peter (b. 1867), presumably in honor of his son Peter who died during in the war.

William M. Rusco

William M. Rusco was born in 1836 in Greenwich, Huron County, Ohio, the son of Laura (b. 1808).

New York native Laura was married sometime before 1826 by which time she was living in Ohio. By 1850 William was living with his mother and family and attending school with his siblings in Greenwich; next door lived his uncle Jeremiah and his family. (In 1864 Rusco listed his nearest relative as one J. E. Rusco living in Greenwich, Ohio. This may very well have been Jeremiah Rusco. ) William eventually left Ohio and had settled in western Michigan by 1860 when he was a mason and farm laborer living with and/or working for Levi L. Phillips, a wealthy farmer in Alpine, Kent County.

William stood 6’1” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion and was 25 years old and possibly residing in Crockery, Ottawa County when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861. (Company I was made up largely of men from Ottawa County, particularly from the eastern side of the County.) He was reported on detached service at General Heintzelman’s headquarters from July of 1862 through January of 1863. He reenlisted on December 24, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Algoma, Kent County, was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864 and probably returned to duty on or about the first of February.

William was probably shot in the right leg sometime around June 2 or 3, possibly near Cold Harbor, Virginia, and was transferred as absent wounded to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. William was admitted from the field on June 28, 1864, to Second Division (or “Sickles’”) hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, suffering from a severe gunshot wound to the right leg, and was reported in a hospital in Alexandria in late July. In fact he probably remained absent wounded until he was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

William eventually returned to Michigan after the war and by 1867 was probably living in Eaton Rapids, Eaton County.

He married Michigan native Emma S. Childs and they had at least three children: Laura May (b. 1867), Edith (b. 1870) and James (b. 1872).

(In 1870 his mother was living alone in Union City, Branch County, in a house located between two Eddy families.)

By 1880 William was working as a stonemason and living with his wife and children in Eaton Rapids, Eaton County.

For many years William worked as a mason. He was living in Olyphant, Arkansas in 1889 when he was admitted to the Michigan Soldiers’ Home (no. 1117) on November 15, 1889.

In 1896 he applied for and received a pension (no. 255928).

William died of “fits and convulsions” at the Home hospital on November 6, 1890. He was buried in the Home cemetery: section 3 row 3 grave 1.

In 1891 his widow was residing in Illinois when she applied for and received a pension (no. 307096).

George Runyan

George Runyan was born on April 3, 1837, in Seneca County, New York, the son of George Barton (1815-1883) and Matilda (Huff, 1815).

George’s parents were married in 1835, probably in Ovid, New York, where Matilda had been born and eventually settled in Ovid. George left New York and eventually settled in Michigan. He (or perhaps his father) may have been the same George B. Runyan living in Gaines, Genesee County in 1860 and working as a tailor in Gaines in 1863.

In any case, George stood 5’10” with black eyes, black hair and a dark complexion and was a 26-year-old carpenter possibly living in Gaines, Genesee County or Corunna, Shiawassee County when he enlisted in Unassigned on January 1, 1864, at either Gaines or Corunna for 3 years, and was mustered on January 4 at Corunna.

Although there is no further record (he is not found in either the Regimental descriptive rolls or in the 1905 Regimental history of the Third Michigan infantry) it appears that he enlisted in Company H, Fifth Michigan infantry on January 1, 1864, at Gaines for 3 years, and was mustered on January 6. He is listed in the 1905 Fifth Michigan Regimental history.

George was wounded on June 18, 1864, probably near Petersburg, Virginia, and was absent wounded through November but eventually returned to duty, and was reported as Quartermaster Sergeant on June 10, 1865. He was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war George returned to Gaines, Genesee County.

He was married to Michigan native Emma (b. 1849), and by 1870 he was working as a grocer and living with his wife next door to his parents (his father worked as a mail express agent) in Gaines, Genesee County.

George died on April 7, 1872, of a “spinal complaint” (possibly spinal meningitis) in Gaines and he was buried in Oakwood cemetery, Gaines. His sister Sarah died of spinal meningitis in December of that same year.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 348061).

Henry Rubelman

Henry or Heinrich Rubelman was born in 1830 in Württemberg, Germany.

Henry immigrated to America and eventually settled in Michigan. By 1860 Henry was working as a brewer for one John Gute in Owosso’s Third Ward, Shiawassee County.

In any case, he stood 5’4” with black eyes and hair and a dark complexion and was a 31-year-old brewer probably working and living in Owosso’s Third Ward, Shiawassee County when he enlisted in Company C on May 13, 1861. He was a provost guard at First Division headquarters from September 22, 1863, through November, and reenlisted on December 21, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Ada, Kent County.

He was probably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864 and it may have been at this time that he married New York native Helen (b. 1843); they had at least two children: Henry (b. 1867), Louise (b. 1868) and Albert (b. 1870).

In any event Henry returned to duty on or about the first of February. He was reported on detached service at Division headquarters from February through May and was quite possibly still on detached service when he was transferred as “Heinrich Roubelmann” or “Henry Rubelman” to Company I, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864.

Henry became sick on June 25, 1864, and was admitted from the field hospital on July 16 to Finley general hospital in Washington, DC, for “debility.” He was subsequently reported as a nurse at City Point hospital, Virginia, in November of 1864, and in the medical department from December of 1864 through January of 1865. He was absent sick in February, a provost guard at Third Division headquarters in March through May and was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Henry probably returned to Owosso following his discharge (his wife had been residing there in 1864). By 1870 he was working as a saloonkeeper and living with his wife and two children In Owosso’s Third Ward. By 1880 Henry was working in a tannery and living with his wife and children in Owosso’s First Ward. He was living in Owosso, Fourth Ward in 1890.

He may have been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post in Owosso.

In 1881 he applied for and received a pension (no. 360142).

Henry was living in Owosso when he died on October 12, 1892, at his home on Ament (?) Street and was buried in Oakhill cemetery, Owosso.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 379380).

Charles Cornwallis Rowlinson

Charles Cornwallis Rowlinson was born on August 11, 1836, in New York, the son of James (1801) and Fanny (b. 1807) and stepson of Sophronia (b. 1811).

New York natives Charles and Fanny were married, probably in New York where they lived for some years. Sometime between 1837 and 1843 James moved his family to Ohio and by 1846 they were living in Michigan, probably in Ottawa County. By 1850 James had remarried to a Vermont native named Sophronia (b. 1811) and Charles was living with his family on a farm in Chester, Ottawa County and in 1860 Charles (listed as “Cornell”) was working as a farmer and living with is family in Chester.

Charles was 23 years old and possibly living in Chester, Ottawa County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861. He was reported sick in the hospital from August of 1862 through April of 1863 when he allegedly deserted on April 1, 1863, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

There is no further record, and no pension seems to be available.

However, it appears that Charles returned to his home in Michigan. He was married to Pennsylvania native Anna Elizabeth Jones (b. 1844), possibly in Pennsylvania -- which is where he was when he deserted -- and they had at least two children: Melissa May Mary (b. 1868) and Charles (b. 1870). By 1870 Charles (or Cornwall) had returned to Ottawa County and was working as a farmer and carpenter and living with his wife and daughter in Chester; his father was also living with them.

Charles died of typhoid fever, at his home in Chester, on August 22, 1870, in Chester and was presumably buried there, or possibly in South Casnovia cemetery, Muskegon County (as “Rowland”).

Anna remarried in 1874 to Jasper McClain and by 1890 was still living in Chester, Ottawa County.

Thomas Rowling update 10/18/2016

Thomas Rowling was born in 1836 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.

Thomas left Canada and by 1860 he was sawing in a mill in Georgetown, Ottawa County, and living at the same mill boarding house with: John Finch (Company I), Albert Hayes (Company I), Joseph Ledbeter (Company B), Benjamin Parker (Company I), James Parm (Company I), Alfred (Company F) and William Tate (Company I), John M. Taylor (Company I).

Thomas stood 5’10” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was 25 years old and reportedly residing in Kent County when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. He was discharged for measles on July 29, 1861, at Arlington Heights, Virginia. In 1898 Rowling claimed that “Chronic diarrhea struck me in the spring of 1861 at Washington City. I was in the Third Michigan infantry and it lasted me during the entire war. I took the measles at Grand Rapids, Michigan in the year 1861, in June. The measles settled in my eyes & they have been affected ever since, at times they pain me all the time.” He added that “After the Bull Run fight I was discharged, went home, got better & enlisted in Oct of the same year in Company E of the 2nd Michigan cavalry.”

Thomas returned to western Michigan and reentered the service as a Private in Company E, Second Michigan cavalry on August 30, 1861, at Muskegon, Muskegon County for three years, crediting Wright, Ottawa County, and was mustered October 2 at Grand Rapids. The regiment left Michigan for St. Louis, Missouri, on November 14, 1861 and was on duty at Benton Barracks in St. Louis through February of 1862. It participated in the siege of New Madrid, Missouri, the siege and capture of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River, in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, and was assigned to Louisville in September of 1862. It participated in the battle of Perryville on October 8 and numerous actions in eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia through the winter.

He was absent sick from October of 1861 through December and present for duty through April of 1862. He said years later that “rheumatism first struck me in the left leg at New Madrid, Mississippi in the year 1862,” and on June 30 he was in a hospital near Farmington, Mississippi, but had returned to the Regiment by August where he remained through October of 1863. He was a teamster in January of 1863 and with the wagon train at Knoxville on December 31, and reenlisted as company wagoner, on January 5, 1864, at Honey Creek, Tennessee.

Thomas was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864 and probably returned to duty on or about the first week of February, although he was reported as a teamster with the Regimental wagon train guard until mid-February when he was apparently absent sick with dysentery from February 19 to March 19, probably at the depot in Nashville. He returned to duty, was present in April, and discharged on June 15, 1865, at the cavalry depot in Edgefield, Tennessee, for chronic opthalmia and dysentery.

It is not known if Thomas ever returned to Michigan, and he probably remained in Tennessee following his discharge.

He married Tennessee native Margaret Harshaw (1839-1883), although he later denied the first marriage.

In the late 1860s he was residing in Sumner County, Tennessee sometime, but by 1870 he and Margaret were living in Morgantown, Butler County, Kentucky. In 1880 he was working as a laborer and living with his wife Margaret in Civil District 9, Sumner County, Tennessee. He was living in South Tunnel, Tennessee in 1884, in Fountain Head, Sumner County in 1890, and in Portland, Tennessee in 1898.

Thomas married his second wife Mrs. Matilda Aldridge Harshaw on November 30, 1884, at South Tunnel, Tennessee. In 1889 Thomas bequeathed in his will 45 3/4 acres to his son-in-law James Honeycutt and his wife Rebecca Jane, who was also Thomas’ stepdaughter, providing that James “binds himself to support my wife Matilda Rowling one-half the time after my death. . . .” In 1890 he was living in Sumner County, Tennessee. By 1900 he and Matilda were living in Civil District 14, Sumner County, Tennessee; also living with them were his stepdaughter Rebecca Honeycutt and her three children.

Given “the uncertainty of this frail and transitory life,” on September 15, Thomas bequeathed 35 acres of land to be used to pay off his debts and doctor bills, with the remainder to be given to “my beloved wife Matilda,” and another 42 1/2 acres to “my beloved stepdaughter” Rebecca Honeycutt “to take care of her mother during her life.”

In 1874 he applied for and received pension no. 442,180.

Thomas died on December 26, 1900, and was buried in Fountain Head, Sumner County.

Matilda was still living in Tennessee in 1901 when she applied for and received a pension (no. 542637).

Orlando D. Rowe

Orlando D. Rowe was born in 1843 in Pennsylvania, the son of Gilbert (b. 1822) and Margaret (b. 1824).

His parents were both born in New York and presumably married there before settling in Pennsylvania by the time Orlando was born. The family may have lived briefly in Michigan around 1844 but soon returned to Pennsylvania and by 1850 the family had settled in Columbus, Warren County, Pennsylvania where Orlando attended school with his younger sister Mary and their father worked as a bookkeeper. The family moved from Pennsylvania to Michigan sometime after 1853, and by 1860 Orlando was a boatman living with his family in Tallmadge, Ottawa County where his father was employed as a mill worker. Two houses away lived the Cyrus Miller family. Miller had also spent quite a bit of time in Pennsylvania before moving to Ottawa County and he too would join Company I. And living with Miller’s family was a blacksmith named John Richberg who would join Company B.

Orlando was 18 years old and probably still living in Tallmadge when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861. (Company I was made up largely of men from Ottawa County, particularly from the eastern side of the County.) He was absent sick in the hospital from July of 1862 through August, and allegedly deserted on September 21 at Upton’s Hill, Virginia, probably while he was still hospitalized. He was eventually returned to the Regiment and discharged on January 2, 1863, in order to reenlist in the regular army. He was transferred to K battery, First United States Artillery on January 3, 1863.

Orlando eventually returned to Michigan after the war.

He was probably living in Wayland where he was married to Frances Elifia Spencer (b. 1853) on November 5, 1870; they had at least seven children: Elinor Mae (b. 1872), Byron Gilbert (b. 1874), Mary Angie (b. 1876), Eva Maud (b. 1878), Millie Belle (b. 1880), Georgia Margaret (b. 1889) and Myron Watson (b. 1893).

By 1870 Orlando had moved to Neosho, Woodson County, Kansas. Although he may have returned to Wayland, Allegan County around 1900, it seems that at some point he moved to Missouri and was apparently residing in Missouri in 1891 when he applied for and received a pension (no. 819271). In fact, in 1889-91 he was working as the superintendent for the Walnut Street Planning Mill and living at the rear of the east side of Kenwood 1st Street south (?) of 39th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.

Orlando died on July 14, 1918, in Seymour, Missouri, and is presumably buried there.

In June of 1918 his widow was living in Missouri when she applied for and received a pension (no. 882073).

Joseph Michael Rounds Sr. and Joseph Michael Rounds Jr.

Joseph Michael Rounds Sr. was born on probably April 21 or 28, 1808, in Stephentown, Rensselaer County, New York, the son of Horton (1786-1877) and Araminta or Araminty (Towsley, 1788-1848).

About 1820 Joseph’s family moved from Stephentown, Rensselaer County to west central New York, settling on land in Yates County in 1822.

On January 31, 1828, Joseph married New York native Matilda Carmer (b. 1808) in Canandaigua, New York, and they had at least five children: William Carmer (b. 1830), Susanna (b. 1832) Araminta (b. 1835), Horton (b. 1840), and Joseph Michael Jr. (b. 1842). (Joseph Jr. would enlist in Company G.)

They eventually settled in Jerusalem, Yates County where they lived until at least 1842. About 1844 Joseph Sr.’s father Horton moved his extended family to Michigan, settling in Kent County, and after the death of Joseph Sr.’s mother in 1848 he eventually remarried.

By 1850 Joseph Sr. was working as a cooper in Courtland, Kent County. Next door was William H. Rounds, Joseph’s brother, and next door to William was their father Horton.

In 1860 Joseph was still working as a cooper and living in Algoma, Kent County, with his wife Matilda. Living with them was Ambrose, age 20 (who would enlist in but not be mustered into the Old Third, and instead join the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics). According to the census records Joseph Sr. had been convicted of larceny sometime prior to 1860.They eventually settled in Jerusalem, Yates County where they lived until at least 1842. About 1844 Joseph Sr.’s father Horton moved his extended family to Michigan, settling in Kent County, and after the death of Joseph Sr.’s mother in 1848 he eventually remarried.

Joseph Sr. stood 5’10” with gray eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was reported to be 44 but in fact have been 54 when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861, about the same time when his son Joseph Jr. enlisted in Company G. (Edwin Blair, who also enlisted in Company F, and who was Cedar Springs, had married one Persis Rounds in 1855.)

While the Regiment was en route to Detroit from Grand Rapids on June 13, 1861, Joseph fell asleep with his arm hanging out of the train window, and, “When passing a wood pile,” reported the Grand Rapids Enquirer on June 16, 1861, “the arm came into contact with a stick, lacerating the flesh, and dislocating a portion of the bone of the elbow. -- Mr. Rounds returned yesterday, and is here on the sick list. He will join his Regiment when he gets well.” Another reporter who was on board the train noted that “Between Pontiac and Detroit, Private Rounds of Co. F, from Montcalm, met with a severe accident, which will render him incapable of bearing arms. Carelessly putting his arm out of the car window, it came into contact with a woodpile, causing a bad fracture of the bones of the forearm. The brave fellow bore the pain manfully, going on board the boat before making any report to the Surgeon fearing if put on the sick list at Detroit, he would be put in the hospital. However, he will be returned to Detroit tomorrow, as he is useless to the Regiment.”

And in fact “At Cleveland we left G. [Alpheus S.] Williams, [Michigan] Adjutant General [John] Robertson, and Capt. Pittman [Paymaster], who accompanied us from Detroit. Col. Leffingwell accompanies us to Harrisburg. Private [Joseph] Rounds [of Company F], who, as I mentioned in my last, broke the bones of his forearm while coming from Grand Rapids to Detroit, was returned home. He said that he would come on and join the regiment, even if he had to pay his own expenses and serve without pay. His spirit is only an exponent of that of the entire regiment.”

He returned to his Regiment, but was discharged on July 26, 1861, at Arlington Heights, Virginia, for “fracture of olecranon [tip of the elbow] of the process of the ulna,” and according to Dr. Zenas Bliss, Assistant Regimental surgeon, “I think will occasion some permanent disability in the motion of the elbow joint.”

After his discharge from the army Joseph Sr. returned to Michigan and possibly reentered the service at the age of 44 in B Battery, First Michigan Light Artillery on December 9, 1861, at Cedar Springs, Kent County, for 3 years and was mustered on December 16 at Grand Rapids, listing Solon, Kent County as his residence. where the battery was originally organized between September 10 and December 14, 1861. The battery left Michigan on December 17 for St. Louis, Missouri, and Joseph was discharged on February 13, 1862, at Camp Benton, Missouri for disability.

In any case, Joseph reentered the service a second (or third) time at the age of 43 (?) in Company C, First Michigan Sharpshooters on April 28, 1863, at Dearborn, Wayne County, for 3 years, was mustered May 1 at Detroit, listing Algoma as his residence, and discharged on March 4, 1864, at Chicago for disability.

Joseph eventually returned to his home in Michigan and by 1870 he was working as a farmer and living with his wife in Algoma. Also living with them was his son Joseph Jr. and his family (?).

Joseph Sr. reportedly died on September 12, 1871, and may have been buried in Rockford’s Old Pioneer cemetery in Kent County.

In 1890 his widow was living in Michigan when she applied for and received a pension (no. 355766).

Joseph Michael Rounds Jr. was born on July 23, 1842, in Jerusalem, Yates County, New York, the son of Joseph Michael Sr. and Matilda (Carmer, 1808).

Joseph’s parents were married in New York in 1828 and they eventually settled in Jerusalem, Yates County where they lived until at least 1842. About 1844 Joseph Sr.’s father Horton moved his extended family to Michigan, settling in Kent County, and after the death of Joseph Sr.’s mother in 1848 he eventually remarried.

By 1850 Joseph Jr. was living with his family in Courtland, Kent County. Next door was William H. Rounds, Joseph’s uncle, age 31, and next door to William was his grandfather Horton.

Joseph Jr. was a 19-year-old laborer probably living in New York, unable to read or write when he enlisted in Company G on May 13, 1861, about the same time his father (or perhaps uncle) Joseph (elder) enlisted in Company F. Joseph Jr. was discharged on July 30, 1861, at Arlington, Virginia for secondary syphilis, contracted prior to enlistment.

After his discharge from the army, Joseph Jr. returned to Michigan.

He married Michigan native Eliza A. (b. 1840) and they had at least three children: Abram (b. 1865), James A. (b. 1867) and Matilda (b. 1869).

By 1870 Joseph Jr. was working as a farm laborer and living with his wife and children on his parents farm in Algoma, Kent County.

In 1870 he applied for and eventually received a pension (application no. 900109).

Joseph Jr. was living in Grand Rapids in 1888 when he testified in the pension claim of James Austin (who had served in Company I during the war). Joseph was residing in Charlotte’s First Ward, Eaton County in 1890 and 1894.

Joseph died of chronic syphilis and heart disease in Charlotte on November 9, 1908, and was buried in McBain cemetery, Missaukee County.

It is unclear exactly why Joseph’s remains were sent to Missaukee County for burial. We do know that at the time of Joseph’s death, a relative, possibly a brother by the name of Ambrose Rounds, was living in the McBain area. (Curiously, Ambrose had originally planned to enlist in the Old Third but for reasons unknown was never mustered into that Regiment, and instead found his way into the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics in November of 1861.)

Nathan Ross Jr. - updated 1/20/2016

Nathan Ross Jr. was born on September 24, 1841, in Pownal Center, Bennington County, Vermont, the son of Nathan Sr. (1799-1879) and Lydia (Kimball, 1804).

Nathan’s parents were married in 1820 in Pownal where they resided for many years. Nathan and his father, a laborer, were residing in Pownal, in 1850. Nathan Jr. may have still been living in Vermont when he married Polley June (or Jane) Haley (or Holley, b. 1841) on November 11, 1858, in Clarksburg, Massachusetts. Nathan soon left New England, however and by 1860 Nathan Jr. was working as a farm laborer for one Jeremiah Robinson in Grattan, Kent County.

He stood 5’8” with blue eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion and was 19 years old and living in Saranac, Ionia County when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company D on May 13, 1861. He allegedly deserted either at Arlington Heights on July 21, 1861, or from a chopping party near Hunter’s Farm, Virginia on July 28, 1861.

Nathan later claimed that in fact he had enlisted originally only for three months, was afterwards mustered in for three years, and “honorably discharged” on or about July 25, 1861. He also claimed to have been taken prisoner on or about August 1, 1861, although there is no confirmation for this claim.

On November 21, 1862, the town clerk in St. Johns, Clinton County, wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Smith, military commander in Detroit, stating that Ross, formerly of Company D, Third Michigan infantry, “wishes to report himself under the following circumstances as he hears that he is exchanged. As ready for duty -- but have been sick and wants funds ($15) and a pass to whatever place you wish to order him. The money he wishes is to pay doctor’s bill. He was taken prisoner Aug. 1861 and released May 31, 1862. In case he is not exchanged, wishes to stay here until called for, when he will consider himself ready for duty.” It is not known what Colonel Smith’s reply was to the clerk’s request, and there is no further military record for Ross.

Nathan Jr. had a variety of scars, marks and tattoos on his body: the letters “PJR” (or perhaps “PJH,” “Polley Jane Haley or Holley”) and a star on the left arm, both put on, he claimed, while he was in Libby prison. In addition, the letters “MA” on the right arm, put on he said since he was in the war in 1863; a name on the back of his left hand; and a diamond on the left hip near the waist. (This may in fact have been the letter “D” for deserter. Ben Nestle, also of the Old Third, had been charged during the war with desertion, and was branded with a “D” on his left hip and drummed out of the service.) There was also writing on the inside of the left wrist and marks on his left leg below the knee. He had a scar on the corner of his right eye and a burn scar on his right knee. He also noted that some years before he had lost two toes and part of a third from the right foot.

By 1865 Nathan Jr. was probably living in Clinton County, and he may have returned to Vermont briefly before heading back west. For a while he resided in Indiana, and worked as a laborer most of his life.

He eventually returned to Michigan and was living in Campbell, Ionia County in 1890 and 1894. He was living with one John Dixon in Lake Odessa, Ionia County by 1905 when he applied for a pension (application no. 1,334,619) “under the ruling of the Commissioner of Pensions of March 15th, 1904, comonly [sic] known as the ‘age act’, as he was born September 24th, 1841,” thus making him 63 years old. However, his pension was rejected on the grounds that he had deserted during the war, and that said charge was never removed. In any case the certificate was never granted.

Nathan Jr. was twice married: first to Polley Holley (who he said left him, no divorce is in evidence), and second, on October 11, 1865 to Henrietta Eldridge (a widow whom he divorced) in Clinton County. He had one child, a daughter Marsha Ella Ross.

Nathan was listed as a widower and probably still living in Ionia when he died of influenza on March 19, 1923, possibly at the Ionia County Home and was buried in Highland Park Cemetery, Ionia: grave/lot no. 54.

Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross was born in 1840.

Alexander was 21 years old and living in Bath, Clinton County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company G on May 10, 1861. He was wounded severely in the groin on May 31, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Virginia. By mid-June he was hospitalized in Portsmouth, Virginia, and apparently returned to duty soon afterwards. Homer Thayer of Company G reported on September 2 that that Ross had been wounded slightly at Second Bull Run on August 29, 1862.

Slight or not, he was subsequently hospitalized in Washington, DC, and died from a wound to the ankle on September 26, 1862, at Presbyterian hospital in Georgetown, DC. He was buried in the Military Asylum cemetery (Soldier's Home National cemetery), section F no. 848.

No pension seems to be available.

Amos Rosenberger

Amos Rosenberger was born on October 4, 1844, in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada, the son of Jacob (1802-1881) and Hannah (Pannabecker, b. 1810).

Jacob, a Mennonite from Pennsylvania, married Hannah, also from Pennsylvania, and by 1830 they had moved to Canada. By 1836 they were living in Waterloo, Ontario where they resided for many years. The family eventually moved to Michigan. By 1860 Amos was working as a farm laborer and he was living with his father who was also working as a farm laborer and they were both living with Amos’ older brother Cornelius and his family in Gaines, Kent County. Cornelius had settled in Michigan by 1854.

Amos stood 5’9” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was an 18-year-old farm laborer living in Gaines, Kent County when he enlisted in Company A on November 15, 1861, at Grand Rapids for 3 years, and was mustered on December 23 at Detroit. He was probably shot in the left leg, presumably at Fair Oaks, Virginia, on May 31, 1862, and was sick in the hospital until he was discharged on August 8, 1862, at Douglas hospital in Washington, DC for “injury of quadriceps muscle of left leg, the result of a gunshot wound.”

Amos returned to western Michigan after his discharge from the army.

He was possibly living in Ottawa where he married Martha E. Millard (1845-1924) on November 11, 1864, in Tallmadge, Ottawa County, and they had at least three children: William M. (b. 1865), Millard M. (b. 1866) and Bertie (b. 1874).

By 1880 he was working as a farmer and living in Tallmadge, Ottawa County with his wife and children (listed as “Rosenberg”); also living with them were his wife’s parents. He was living in Berlin (Marne), Ottawa County in 1883 when he was drawing $2.00 (pension no. 10,251), and $12 per month by 1903. He worked for some years as a manufacturer, and as a wholesale and retail dealer in lumber. By 1890 he was residing in Baldwin, Lake County.

Amos died of apoplexy on February 1, 1904, at Reed City, Osceola County. He was buried in the Reed City cemetery.

His widow applied for and received a pension (no. 579762).

Charles W. Rose

Charles W. Rose was born in 1841 in Michigan, the son of Harvey K. (b. 1813) and Lucy (b. 1812).

His parents were both born in New York and presumably married there sometime before 1836. In any case between 1836 and 1841 they settled in Michigan and by 1850 were living in Grand Rapids, Kent County where Harvey worked as a merchant. By 1860 Charles was a grocery clerk working for his father in Grand Rapids’ First Ward. That same year Charles also joined the Valley City Guard, the prewar Grand Rapids militia company whose members would form the nucleus of Company A on May 13, 1861.

He was 20 years old and living in Kent County (probably Grand Rapids) when he enlisted with his parents’ consent in Company A. (Company A was made up largely of men from Grand Rapids, and many of whom had served in various local militia units before the war, specifically the Valley City Guards, or VCG, under the command of Captain Samuel Judd, who would also command Company A.)

Charles was allegedly AWOL in March of 1863, but in fact was on a 15-day furlough to his home in Grand Rapids. According to the Grand Rapids Eagle of March 13, 1863, Rose had “just returned on a furlough of 15 days to visit his parents and friends at home. Welcome, ‘Charley’, welcome home again. Let the brave and true -- defenders of the old flag -- everywhere be received, from their glorious mission, with open arms and warm hearts, by all loyal people. -- Three cheers for all those who make up the solid columns.”

Charles eventually returned to the Regiment and was a clerk in Division headquarters from May of 1863 through November, absent on detached service in the Brigade in December, and a clerk at Brigade headquarters in January of 1864 through May. He was mustered out of service on June 20, 1864.

Charles may returned to Michigan after his discharge and was possibly living at 20 Bronson Street in Grand Rapids in 1865-66. By 1880 he was apparently unemployed, single and living with his widowed mother in Grand Rapids. By 1890 he was living in Cheboygan, Second Ward, Cheboygan County, and he was still living in Cheboygan in 1897 when he became a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association.

In 1891 he was living in Michigan when he applied for and received a pension (no. 965708).

Charles Henry Rose

Charles Henry Rose was born in 1839 in Pennsylvania or Essex County, New Jersey, the son of John W. (b. 1817) and Charity (b. 1819).

New York natives John and Charity settled in Pennsylvania where they were reportedly living in 1839 and in 1845, but by 1859 had settled in Michigan. By 1850 “Henry” was living with his family in Waterloo, Jackson County; by 1860 Charles H. was working as a farm laborer and living with his family in Watertown, Clinton County.

He stood 5’10” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was 22 years old and living in Watertown, Clinton County when he enlisted in Company G on May 10, 1861. According to Frank Siverd of Company G, in early June Charles was sick with the measles. He was, Siverd was quick to add, “well cared for. [Regimental Surgeon D. W.] Bliss leaves nothing undone that will contribute to the comfort of the sick. To prevent the disease spreading, as soon as the first symptoms appear,” Bliss had Rose, along with several others “removed to the house of a physician, some three miles from camp.” Several days later, shortly before the regiment left Michigan in June of 1861, Siverd wrote that Charles was in the “measles infirmary.”

He apparently recovered sufficiently enough to leave Michigan with the regiment on June 13, 1861, but by the first of August Charles was reported sick in the City Hospital (possibly Alexandria) with a fever, but as of August 7 he was reported to be in the Columbian College hospital in Washington suffering from “general debility,” and the following month he was reportedly convalescing in Annapolis, Maryland.

It is quite possible that Charles remained sick through spring of 1862. Frank Siverd of Company G reported on March 17, 1862, that when the Regiment moved to begin to move out of its winter quarters to begin the spring campaign with the Army of the Potomac, Rose was left behind in the Annapolis general hospital sick with inflammation of the lungs. Rose was discharged for chronic rheumatism on May 28, 1862, at Douglas hospital in Washington, DC, and according to Homer Thayer of Company G, by mid-June had returned to Watertown to recover his health.

Charles was probably living in Watertown when he reentered the service as Sergeant in Company I, Tenth Michigan cavalry on September 7, 1863, for 3 years, crediting Watertown, and was mustered September 18 at Grand Rapids where the regiment was organized between September 18 and November 18, 1863, when it was mustered into service. It left Michigan for Lexington, Kentucky on December 1, 1863, and participated in numerous operations, mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee throughout the winter of 1863-64. Most of its primary area of operations would eventually be in the vicinity of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.

He was on furlough from November of 1864 through December, at the dismounted camp in Knoxville, Tennessee, from March of 1865 through May, and mustered out on November 11, 1865, at Memphis, Tennessee.

Charles returned to Michigan after the war. He was living in Concord, Jackson County in 1890, and may have been a member of Grand Army of the Republic Pomeroy Post No. 48 in Jackson, Jackson County.

In 1888 he applied for and received a pension (no. 417080).

Charles died on October 23, 1923, in Pulaski, Jackson County and was buried in Maple Grove cemetery in Jackson County.

Charles Rose

Charles Rose was born in 1837 in Orleans County, New York, possibly the son of Jeremiah and Susan.

Charles left New York, probably with his family, and moved west, eventually settling in Brookfield, Waukesha County, Wisconsin by 1850 where they resided for some years.

Charles stood 5’6” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was 24 years old and probably working as a farmer in Brookfield, Wisconsin (although he gave Ingham County as his home of record) when he enlisted in Company H on April 28, 1861. He may have been wounded on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, but in any event was sick in the hospital from August of 1862 through October.

He was discharged for consumption on October 30, 1862, at Finley hospital in Washington, DC, and subsequently died of typhoid fever on November 10, 1862, in hospital no. 104 (possibly Finley hospital) in Washington. He was buried in the Military Asylum cemetery (Soldier's Home National cemetery), probably in section D, no. 4662, as “Charles Rohs”.

No pension seems to be available.

According to a letter in his Military Service Record, National Archives, dated August 25, 1863, the hospital chaplain had taken possession of Charles’ personal effects and reportedly sent them home to one Susan Rose, “widdow of Jeremiah Rose.” She was living in Duplainville, Clinton County in August of 1863.

George Root

George Root was born in 1842 in New York.

George left New York and eventually settled in western Michigan where by 1860 he was working as a mill hand and living in Muskegon, Muskegon County at the Averill boarding house, where Thomas Waters and William Ryan (both of whom would also enlist in Company H), along with George’s older brother James also resided.

George was 19 years old and still residing in Muskegon when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company H on May 6, 1861.

He died on December 11, 15 or 20, 1863, of “lung fever” at Alexandria, Virginia, and was buried at Alexandria National Cemetery: section A, grave 815.

No pension seems to be available.

Daniel S. Root

Daniel S. Root was born on April 11, 1838, in Sweden, Monroe County, New York, the son of Edwin G. (b. 1811) and Amarilla (Beadle).

His parents were married in August of 1832 and eventually settled in Monroe County, New York. Edwin brought his family to Michigan in 1845, and settled in Ionia County. By 1850 Edwin had settled his family on a farm in Otisco, Ionia County, where Daniel attended school with four of his siblings. In order to support himself in the mid-1850s Daniel spent his winters teaching and working as a laborer in the summer, and by 1860 his family was still residing in Otisco.

Daniel was 23 years old and probably still living in Otisco when he enlisted as Second Sergeant in Company K on May 13, 1861. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company F on November 23, 1861, and commissioned First Lieutenant and transferred to Company A on July 1, 1862.

Daniel was wounded slightly on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, and in early January of 1863, went home to Michigan on a furlough of twenty days. He returned to Company A by the end of the month, and was transferred to Company D and commissioned Captain on February 5, replacing George Dodge. Daniel was reported on detached service in Michigan, probably recruiting for the Regiment, from December 29, 1863, and was transferred back to Company A on February 14, 1864.

“In the heat of battle,” one newspaper wrote some years after the war, Root had a reputation for being “as cool as though in a drawing-room.” During the battle of the Wilderness in early May of 1864, so one story went, “Captain D. C. Crawford, of Lyons, an officer in the same Regiment, relates an incident that illustrates his superb courage and coolness in danger. ‘In one of the battles of the wilderness the skirmish line composed of their Regiment was forced back by the enemy. Our men were running for shelter within our lines, and the rebels were not 30 feet behind in hot pursuit, shouting surrender, surrender. In the retreat Root, then a lieutenant, lost his hat. He stopped, coolly turned around, facing the foe, picked it up, put it on his head and resumed his retreat. When he picked it up the rebels were within 20 feet of him.’”

Daniel was transferred to Company A, Fifth Michigan infantry as Captain upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and promoted to Major on July 20, commissioned as of June 12, replacing Major Mathews. In his official report on the action of June 22, 1864, near Petersburg, Virginia, Root wrote that

in the afternoon of the 21st instant my command was detailed for picket and was posted in the immediate front of the enemy, covering the entire front of our Brigade, connecting on the left with the pickets of the 7th Regiment [N.J.] (Third Brigade, First Division) and on the right with the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division. During the forenoon of the 22d, my Regiment still being on picket, kept up a sharp skirmish fire with the enemy's pickets in our immediate front. About 10 a.m. of the 22d I reported to the colonel commanding the 2nd Brigade a movement of the enemy toward our left. About 1 p.m. of this day I heard heavy picket firing at some considerable distance to the left of my line. At this time I noticed no unusual movement of the enemy to my immediate front. My first intimation of the disaster and of the giving away of the picket-line on my left was the appearance of the pickets from my left passing to the rear of my line, closely pursued by the enemy. To prevent capture I immediately withdrew my picket-line and retired to the rifle-pits occupied by the 1st [Mass.] Heavy Artillery. In doing this 19 of my men were taken prisoners. My command remained with the 1st [Mass. H.A.] until we were again flanked by the enemy on the left, when we retired to the second line of rifle-pits, where I again formed my command.

Dan Crotty of Company F wrote some years after the war that in July of 1864, “Our Regiment, the 5th, are having lively times on the line, commanded by our gallant Lieutenant Colonel Dan. S. Root, as brave an officer as there is in the army in any battle, while in camp he is the personification of mildness to a fault. The Colonel arose from the ranks by his bravery and good conduct. He knows how to appreciate the love of his men, who now are forcing the rebel skirmishers, and they fall back to their main support, when their reserve open out with a withering fire on our men.”

Crotty observed of Root that “No braver soldier ever drew a sword than he. He is the beloved of those who have the good fortune to be in his command. In camp, mild but firm; in battle as brave as the bravest. Always at his post, he never lost a battle, from the first Bull Run to the present time. He will always be remembered with the greatest pleasure by those who have shared the numerous campaigns with him in the Army of the Potomac.” Root was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on March 22, 1865, commissioned December 21, 1864, replacing Lieutenant Colonel Mathews, and was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

No pension seems to be available.

After the war Daniel returned to Ionia and studied medicine under Dr. Evans and then under Dr. James Grove (formerly a surgeon in the Third Michigan) in Grand Rapids, and he attended lectures at Ann Arbor. He then attended medical college in Chicago, and entered into practice about 1868 in Chicago where he was living in 1872 and 1879. By 1880 he was working as a physician and living on West Twelfth Street in Chicago.

As many of his patients were German he mastered that language in order to be more effective in communicating with his patients. The Ionia Sentinel wrote in 1882, “Locating in a part of the city where it seemed necessary to know something of the German language, he mastered it without a teacher, learning to speak it fluently while he was carrying on his practice. He was a man of steadfast and unalterable purpose, fearing nothing, and shrinking from nothing in his advance. To his unflinching courage in the face of disease, his almost unconquerable will, and determined purpose to go forward and meet the duties of his chosen calling, when his physical strength was failing day by day, he probably owes his early and untimely death.”

He was a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, and an accomplished botanist, “having a large collection of plants and flowers from all the states, many if not most of which he gathered himself; and he was no mean ornithologist, having a knowledge of birds and their habits, that many a special scientist might envy. He was fond of flowers and every growing thing.

“‘A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and all that we behold
From this green earth.’”

According to the Grand Rapids Eagle of February 27, 1882, “He had been in declining health for some time and came over to Ionia on Monday, where his father, a brother and a sister reside, hoping to recuperate by getting away from all business and professional care.” His family and “friends were not seriously alarmed until Thursday last. Physicians were called. But there was no help.”

Daniel died at 5:45 p.m. on February 23, 1882, in his sister’s home in Ionia, and funeral services were held on Sunday afternoon at the residence of T. D. Fargo, his brother-in-law, in Ionia.

Daniel was buried in Oak Hill cemetery in Ionia.

“In person,” wrote the Ionia Sentinel in its obituary, “Colonel Root was tall, lithe and well formed; a model of physical beauty, he looked every inch a soldier. He was retired and reserved in his manners, intimate with but few, but most frank, genial and social with these; a true friend, loving not with demonstration but with a solid and enduring affection, as permanent as adamant.” And, he “was a man of varied accomplishments, with a mind stored with the choicest and most useful knowledge and a heart absolutely free from guile. Man or boy, he was never known to do a mean thing within the remembrance or knowledge of the writer, who knew him well for 35 years. Such a man was an honor to our country, wherever he grew to manhood, and his loss is not that of friends and family alone, but it reaches we know not where. Had he lived the three score years and ten allotted to man, no estimate can fathom the usefulness of his life.”

On May 31, 1888, the Eagle reported that at Ionia during the recent Memorial Day services, “Capt. E. M. Allen, of Portland, delivered an address at the opera house. The floral tributes were profuse. The ritual service at the cemetery took place near the monument of Col. Dan S. Root, over which was draped the battle flag of his old Regiment, the Third Michigan Infantry.” G.A.R. Post no. 126 in Belding and Smyrna was named in his honor.

Edward H. Romans

Edward H. Romans was born on August 1, 1836, in New York, the son of Peter Milo (1804-1878) and Harriet Ruth (Woodward, 1808-1888).

New York natives, Peter and Ruth were probably married in New York sometime before 1833 and resided in New York for many years; by 1840 Peter was probably living in Mendon, Monroe County, New York. Sometime between 1846 and 1848 they moved to Michigan and by 1850 Edward was living with his family and attending school with five of his siblings in Bedford, Calhoun County. By 1860 Edward (listed as “Edwin”) was working as a farmer and living with his family in Bedford, Calhoun County.

Edward, or Edwin, may have been living in Battle Creek, Calhoun County when he became a substitute for Isaac Rouse, who had been drafted on February 10, 1863, for nine months from Yankee Springs, Barry County. Edward joined the Regiment on March 10 at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, and had his left forefinger shot off, probably on May 3, 1863, at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. He was absent sick in the hospital through October and was either discharged in the field on November 3, 1863, or mustered out at Detroit on November 8, 1863.

Edward may have returned to Michigan and possibly settled in Barry County. (His parents, Peter and Ruth, were still living in Bedford, Calhoun County in 1870 where his father owned $4000 worth of real estate.) In any case, Edward eventually moved to Illinois where he (probably) married Illinois native Joanna J. (b. 1845). By 1870 he was working as a farmer (he owned $2000 worth of real estate) and living with his wife and the Connery (?) family in Drummer Township, Ford County, Illinois. By 1880 Edward was working as a butcher and living with his wife in Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon (his mother was living as a widow in Bedford, Calhoun County, Michigan in 1880).

Edward eventually returned to Michigan and he was possibly a widower when he married his second wife, Michigan native Irene Jenny Davis (b. 1866), probably in Michigan; they had at least two children: Peter M and Millie M. He was living in Nashville, Barry County in 1888, but by 1890 had settled in White Cloud, Newaygo County, and worked as a farmer.

In 1871 he applied for and received a pension (no. 131821).

He was probably living in Wilcox, Newaygo County when he died of sunstroke on August 2, 1894.

Edward was reportedly buried in section A of Prospect Hill cemetery in White Cloud.

In 1895 John Bailey filed a pension application in Michigan on behalf of a minor child (no. 614175) but the certificate was never granted.

Lewis N. Rogers

Lewis N. Rogers was born in 1836, in Ohio.

Lewis was married, possibly in Illinois, and they had at least three children: William (b. 1860), Lewis J. or Richard (b. 1862), and Harriet (b. 1869).

Lewis eventually left Ohio and by 1860 was probably living in Illinois when his son William was born. He probably moved to Michigan sometime between 1862 and 1863.

Lewis stood 5’9” with black eyes and hair and a dark complexion and was a 25-year-old farmer possibly living in Olney, Gratiot County, Michigan, when he became a substitute for Robert C. Hamilton who was drafted on February 10, 1863, for 9 months from Watertown, Clinton County. Lewis was mustered on March 2 at Detroit, joined the Regiment on March 10 at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, and when his nine months’ service expired, he enlisted in Company B on November 21 at Watertown for 3 years. He was subsequently employed as a teamster with the Brigade wagon train from February of 1864 through May. He was transferred to Company E, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, where he was reported on detached service with the supply train through May of 1865, and was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Lewis eventually returned to Michigan. By 1870 Lewis, either a widower or divorced, was working in a sawmill and living with his three children in Alma, Gratiot County. (A. L. and Mariah lived several houses away.)

He married his second wife, Michigan native Elizabeth (b. 1857), and they probably had at least one child: George (b. 1874).

By 1880 Lewis was working as a laborer and living with his wife Elizabeth and three sons: William (age 19), Richard ( age 17) and George (age 6) in Alma. He was probably still living in Alma, Gratiot County in 1888.

In 1890 he applied for and received a pension (no. 900469).

Lewis died on March 23, 1918, at Detroit, and was presumably buried there.

Oscar Azar Robinson

Oscar Azar Robinson was born on August 23, 1828, in Batavia, Genesee County, New York, possibly the son of Lewis (b. 1794).

Massachusetts native Lewis lived for a time in New York before eventually settling in western Michigan. In any case, Oscar (also known as “Azar”) left New York, possibly with his family, and also settled in western Michigan.

He was married to Michigan-born Lucinda Ramsdell (1838-1916), and they had at least four children: Frank (b. 1857), Lizzie (b. 1859), Mrs. Carrie Shaw (b. 1863) and Bertha (b. 1869).

By 1860 Oscar was working as a harness-maker and living with his wife and two daughters in Lowell, Kent County.

Oscar stood 5’8” with black eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion and was a 32-year-old saddler living in Lowell, Kent County when he enlisted as a Musician in Company D on May 13, 1861. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.) He was discharged for consumption on July 29, 1861, at Hunter’s Farm, Virginia.

He returned to Lowell where he reentered the service as a Drummer in Company B, Third Michigan Reorganized infantry, on August 31, 1864, for 3 years, crediting Lowell, and was mustered on September 1 at Grand Rapids. Oscar was promoted to Principal Musician on October 15, and participated in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee December 15-16, 1864. He had been promoted to Drum Major by the time he went home on sick leave about June 18, 1865, and he remained on furlough until July 20, 1865, when he was admitted to Harper hospital in Detroit, where he was discharged on August 30, 1865, presumably for disability.

After the war Oscar returned to Lowell where he probably lived the rest of his life, working for many years as a harness-maker. (He was living in Lowell in 1888, 1890 and 1894.)

He and his wife were keeping a boarding house in Lowell in 1870, and by 1880 he was back working as a harness-maker and living with his wife and children in Lowell; his son Frank was also working as a harness-maker. Living with them was Lucinda’s mother Eliza Ramsdell. Oscar was living in Lowell in 1884 when he attended the Sixth Annual Reunion of the Soldiers and Sailors, at Battle Creek, Calhoun County. He was living in Lowell in 1888, 1890 and 1894.

He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Wilson Post No. 87 in Lowell, and in 1885 he applied for and received a pension (no. 357128).

Oscar died of “chronic bladder trouble” at his home in Lowell on Saturday morning February 3, 1899, and the funeral was held at the residence at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. He was buried in Oakwood cemetery, Lowell.

That same year his widow applied for and received a pension (no. 478336).

Isaac W. Roberts

Isaac W. Roberts was born in 1838.

In 1860 there was one Isaac R. Roberts living in Duplain, Clinton County, Michigan and one Isaac W. Roberts living in Walton, Eaton County.

Isaac was 23 years old and possibly living in Kent County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861.

He was killed in action May 31, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Virginia, and presumably among the unknown soldiers buried at Seven Pines National Cemetery.

In 1890 his father applied for a pension (no. 486111), but the certificate was never granted.

Moses Robbins

Moses Robbins was born in 1843 in Ohio, the son of Ira (d. 1849) and Elizabeth (Mann, d. 1896).

Ira and Elizabeth were married in New Portage, Ohio in 1834 and they resided in Ohio for some years. The family apparently moved back to Orleans County sometime in the late 1840s and in 1849 Ira died in Knowlesville, Orleans County, New York. By 1850 Moses was attending school with two of his siblings and living with his mother in Ridgeway, Orleans County. Moses and his family eventually left Orleans County, New York and came to western Michigan where by 1860 he was living with and/or working for Joseph Robbins (b. 1790) in Boston, Ionia County. Two doors down lived Martin (b. 1837) and Elizabeth Robbins and next door to them lived one Russell Robbins (b. 1819) and his wife Adaline and their family.

Moses was 18 years old and probably still living in Ionia County when he enlisted with the consent of the Justice of the Peace in Company D on May 13, 1861. (Company D was composed in large part of men who came from western Ionia County and Eaton County.)

Moses was absent sick in the hospital from December of 1862 until he died of pleuro-pneumonia at 2:30 p.m. on March 18, 1863, in ward 8 of Chestnut Hills hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Another source reported his as having died on March 24, 1863 from chronic diarrhea. In any case, he was originally buried in “The Soldier’s Rest,” Odd Fellows cemetery, grave no. 15, but later reinterred in Philadelphia National Cemetery: section 5, grave 151.

The only relative noted on his death record was a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hitchcock who was then residing in Waterford, Orleans County, New York. In fact his mother Elizabeth was living in Waterford in 1865 when she applied for and received a pension (no. 72608), drawing $12.00 per month by 1896. (In 1870 there was one Elizabeth Robbins residing in Lowell, Kent County.)